W.H. unveils new immigration plan

The White House unveiled a new plan Friday that would effectively speed up deportations of the recent surge of immigrants trying to cross illegally into the United States through the southwestern border.

The changes include opening new detention centers that can accommodate families, expanded use of ankle bracelets to monitor immigrants awaiting hearings and sending more immigration judges to southern Texas that would expedite and streamline the court hearing and removal process, according to administration officials and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), a border-state lawmaker who was briefed on the changes by the White House Friday morning.

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”We are surging our enforcement resources in a way … to make sure that we are dealing properly with this particular surge” of unaccompanied minors, said Cecilia Muñoz, the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

In addition to the ramped-up enforcement moves, the Obama administration is also taking on additional efforts to spread awareness in central America about the dangers of trying to enter the United States illegally, and that immigrants who are arriving now won’t benefit from administrative relief from deportations that first began in 2012, nor immigration reform legislation pending in Congress.

The recent surge of unaccompanied minors along the southern border has become a serious crisis demanding attention from Washington. On a conference call with reporters Friday, administration officials said about 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended along the southwestern border this fiscal year as of June 15. And about 39,000 adults who have children have been apprehended this fiscal year as of the end of May, the officials said.

Obama has called it an “urgent humanitarian situation” and has assembled an inter-agency task force to assemble a response. Vice President Joe Biden was convening a summit on Friday in Guatemala with top officials in the region to address the crisis. The meeting will include Guatemalan President Pérez Molina, President Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador, as well as a top government official from Honduras.

The increased enforcement is sure to cause anger among immigrant-rights advocates. A spokesman for Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said the lawmaker “does not support the idea of putting children and families fleeing violence in detention while they await our courts to catch up to the current crisis.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said he has “grave concerns” with the administration’s proposal to expand family detention facilities, adding, “I don’t think small children should be locked up in jail.”

“Without addressing the violence driving the children to migrate, we are basically sending them back into a war zone where their lives are in jeopardy,” said Kevin Appleby, the director of migration policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “The danger they face at home is far greater than they face trying to reach safety in the U.S. or other countries.”

Still, others welcomed the changes. Cuellar said the additional enforcement was necessary because “if we don’t send a strong message” that immigration laws will be enforced, immigrants will continue to travel illegally to the United States.

The White House response came amid calls from congressional Republicans to step up its response to the border crisis. Earlier Friday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) fired offa letter to Obama on the issue, urging him to deploy the National Guard to the border “immediately” to aid in the response.

Boehner blamed the Obama administration’s immigration policies for perpetuating a belief that “once they reach U.S. soil, they will be able to stay here indefinitely.” That has been an argument used increasingly in recent days by congressional Republicans who view Obama’s immigration policies as too lax.

The National Guard could deal with the needs of the undocumented children apprehended while trying to cross the border, which in turn would allow border patrol agents to focus on guarding the U.S.-Mexico boundary, Boehner said.

“While we understand that many of these individuals are coming to this country to escape violence and hardship in their home country, the current climate along the border and our enforcement policies are only encouraging them to risk their lives and those of their children,” Boehner wrote. “It is time that we confront the crisis along the border head-on through immediate and aggressive action.”

And other top House Republicans also wrote to Obama, urging his administration to crack down on the surge of unaccompanied children trying to enter the country illegally through tougher enforcement of immigration laws.